When Linux Locks Up

The following are some key combinations to get around a locked up Linux system:

• Shutdown X11: Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
• Switch from X11 to text login: Ctrl-Alt-F1, F2, F3 (don't do with a dual monitor setup in XP, you will lose one of your monitors :-()

If the above don't work try the following steps to shutdown:

1. Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait 30 seconds for init to shutdown your computer
   
2. If this fails use SAK(?). While holding down Alt-PrintScreen (SysRq key Combo) press the following keys
1. 'S' to sync drives
2. 'U' to unmount drives
3. 'B' to reboot
3. If all this fail, then take your life in yours hands and hit the power switch :-(

Note: You may see some activity when you press the 'S' key and 'U' key, but you may not. Don't give up. Continue to step 3 and hit the reboot key 'B' and wait. Even when I have saw nothing for the sync and unmount commands the boot command has worked.

This was gleaned from the following link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=221174

Keywords: linux, hangs, hung, reboot, freezes, frozen

RPM Package Manager (Red Hat Package Manager) (RPM)

A Linux package manager developed by Red Hat.  Is a circular acronym.

(see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPM_Package_Manager)

Yellowdog Updater, Modifier (YUM)

An open source command line package management utility for RPM compatible Linux operating systems.

(see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowdog_Updater,_Modified)

Using find and tar to save selected files

Getting the ICO files.

1.    Use find to create a list of ICO files for the tar to use.
2.    Use the list with the tar command and create the archive.

$ find . -name "*.ico"  -print > ICOFiles.txt
$ tar -c -v -T ICOFiles.txt -f ICONs.tar

When Linux Locks Up

The following are some key combinations to get around a locked up Linux system:

• Shutdown X11: Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
• Switch from X11 to text login: Ctrl-Alt-F1, F2, F3 (don't do with a dual monitor setup in XP, you will lose one of your monitors :-()

If the above don't work try the following steps to shutdown:

1. Ctrl-Alt-Del and wait 30 seconds for init to shutdown your computer
   
2. If this fails use SAK(?). While holding down Alt-PrintScreen (SysRq key Combo) press the following keys
1. 'S' to sync drives
2. 'U' to unmount drives
3. 'B' to reboot
3. If all this fail, then take your life in yours hands and hit the power switch :-(

Note: You may see some activity when you press the 'S' key and 'U' key, but you may not. Don't give up. Continue to step 3 and hit the reboot key 'B' and wait. Even when I have saw nothing for the sync and unmount commands the boot command has worked.

This was gleaned from the following link: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=221174

Pulling PNGs from ICO files.

I created the following two Borne scripts for doing this.  This first only pulls the images with a palette of 24 or 32 bits.  The second pulls them all.

#!/bin/sh
# Run this in to top level of the directory set of the ICOs
# you want to extract.echo Creating folders to hold the PNGs pulled from the ICO files.
# Only PNGs with a color pallete of 24 or greater will be extracted.
echo Creating folders to hold the PNGs pulled from the ICO files.
find . -depth -name "*.ico" -exec mkdir {}.dir \;
echo Pulling the PNGs from the ICO files.
find . -depth -name "*.ico" -exec icotool -p 0 -o {}.dir  -x '{}' \;

#!/bin/sh
# Run this in to top level of the directory set of the ICOs
# you want to extract.
echo Creating folders to hold the PNGs pulled from the ICO files.
find . -depth -name "*.ico" -exec mkdir {}.dir \;
echo Pulling the PNGs from the ICO files.
find . -depth -name "*.ico" -exec icotool -o {}.dir  -x '{}' \;

The site for the icotool is here:  http://www.nongnu.org/icoutils/

There is no longer a doc folder for icotool.  Everything has been moved to the man page.  I learned this reading through the release notes here:  http://www.nongnu.org/icoutils/NEWS

The site for creating the shell is here:  http://steve-parker.org/sh/variables1.shtml

This is a discussion on using the icotool:  http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=322702

This is a discussion of the ICO file format:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICO_%28file_format%29

This is also a discussion of the MAC icon files:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Icon_Image

This is a list of packages used with or on icons:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_icon_software

This is a nice discussion of the find command:  http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl1_find.htm

Bastille Linux

Bastille Linux

Site Page:  http://bastille-linux.sourceforge.net/

An open source program used to make informed discussions to harden a linux, Mac or unix system.  Covers most basic Linux distributions like Debian (Ubuntu), Redhat, Gentoo, SuSE, Mendriva, and TuboLinux.  Implemented as a interactive hardening script

Wikipedia page:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bastille_Unix

Ubuntu page:  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BastilleLinux

'Could not download the upgrades' Fix

I got the message trying to update from Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10.

The fix is to download the install CD from Ubuntu 9.10 Download.  Install the ISO to a CD.

From the System -> Administration -> Software Sources select the go to the Third-Party Software tab and select the Add CD-ROM button.

With the CD now in the selection list the missing packages will be found.

These are the packages I was missing:

Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python2.6/libpython2.6_2.6.4-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python2.6/python2.6_2.6.4-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/p/python2.6/python2.6-minimal_2.6.4-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/f/fuse/fuse-utils_2.7.4-1.1ubuntu4.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/f/fuse/libfuse2_2.7.4-1.1ubuntu4.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/libempathy-common_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/libempathy30_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/x/xsplash/ubuntu-xsplash-artwork_0.8.5-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/x/xsplash/xsplash_0.8.5-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/s/samba/libwbclient0_3.4.0-3ubuntu5.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/s/samba/libsmbclient_3.4.0-3ubuntu5.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/s/samba/smbclient_3.4.0-3ubuntu5.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/s/samba/samba-common_3.4.0-3ubuntu5.1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/s/samba/samba-common-bin_3.4.0-3ubuntu5.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/u/update-manager/update-manager_0.126.7_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/u/update-manager/update-manager-core_0.126.7_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/b/binutils/binutils_2.20-0ubuntu2_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/b/binutils/binutils-static_2.20-0ubuntu2_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/libempathy-gtk-common_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/libempathy-gtk28_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/empathy-doc_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/e/empathy/empathy_2.28.1.1-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/a/antlr/libantlr-java_2.7.7-11ubuntu2_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/g/grub2/grub-common_1.97~beta4-1ubuntu4_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/n/nvidia-common/nvidia-common_0.2.15.1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/t/totem/totem-plugins_2.28.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/universe/t/totem/totem-gstreamer_2.28.2-0ubuntu1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/t/totem/totem-mozilla_2.28.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/t/totem/totem-common_2.28.2-0ubuntu1_all.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]
Failed to fetch http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/pool/main/t/totem/totem_2.28.2-0ubuntu1_i386.deb 404 Not Found [IP: 130.239.18.137 80]

'What do you do with a drunken Linux'

My Ubuntu 9.04 system is locked up.  I was running the Update Manager with another copy of Synaptic open.  I am also running Synergy.

The focus in in the error dialog.  However, I have no mouse and no response from the keyboard.

I have waited about 10 minutes.  Looks like it is time to force a shutdown.

Steve's help:

Found X11 user with who command.  Search ps for tty7 and than kill the user.  That got be back to the X11 login.

Ctrl-Alt-1 through Ctrl-Alt-6 send me to the command line.  Ctrl-Alt-7 send me to X11.  Also Alt-7 will work.

Swap Size and Hibernation

I had never considered this before.  Hibernation requires that the swap partition size be at least as large as the system's physical size.  Found this little tidbit of information in the release notes for Ubuntu 9.10.  This is more important on my portables.

Gentoo Versus Ubuntu 9.04

Gentoo Optimizations Benchmarked by Christopher Smart.  Christopher also did the Gentoo: "We're Not Dead" article /interview.

Interesting article.  Looks like the GCC optimizations help Gentoo win out almost all the time.  In the game area the frame rate can be really improved by Gentoo.  However, there were some places where Ubuntu beats Gentoo by a little bit.  This was a surprise to me.  I would have expect them to be only tied at worst.  There must be something else going on. But Ubuntu winning was very seldom.

The set of bench marks used was Phoronix Test Suite by Phronix of course.

The new Ubuntu is Here! The new Ubuntu is Here!

Picture Steve Martin jumping and yelling the "The new Ubuntu is here! The new Ubuntu is here!".

Ubuntu 9.10 is coming!

Here is the count down scripts:




And the picture:



All this cool stuff can be found here:http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/countdown

this is a test

did this work?

Linux from Scratch

Starting with reading list:

Software Building Howto

His examples of source code he debug is excellent.


Linux User's Guide

Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)

Master Boot Record (MBR)

LInux LOader (LILO)

Getting Sound to Work

Unbuntu 9.04
HP Pavilion dv9700 CTO Notebook PC

System==>Preferences==>Sound















Sound Events is set to Autodetect.
Music and Movies is set to Autodetect.
Audio Conferencing Sound playback is set to Autodetect.
Audio Conferencing Sound Capture is TBD.
Default Mixer Tracks is Capture: HDA Intel - ALC268 Analog (PulseAudio Mi...

Press the test button for Sound Events, Music and Movies, and Audio Conferencing Sound Playback. You should hear an irritating tone.

Next set the Sound Capture to HDA ALC286 Analog (ALSA). Put a mic in the mic port on the front of the computer.

Pressing the Test button for Audio Conferencing Sound Capture yields static and a delayed sound. Hearing the delayed sound is best with a clap every couple of seconds.

Applications==>Sound & Video==>Sound Record









Record a few seconds of audio. Play back the audio and you should hear any sound recorded.

I was unable to record any sound at the mic by the Web Cam; however, mic in the mic port in front of the computer work fine.

Testing Results

HDA Intel Si3054 Modem (ALSA) Front Mic: Nothing Top Mic: Nothing
HDA Intel ALC268 Analog (ALSA) Front Mic: Sound Top Mic: Nothing
HDA Intel ALC268 Analog (OSS) Front Mic: Sound Top Mic: Nothing
ALSA - Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Front Mic: Sound Top Mic: Nothing
OSS - Open Sound System Mic: Sound Top Mic: Nothing

I was unable to get any sound out of the top mic.